We’ve all been there. You’re sat in the library, ready to start typing up that essay that’s due in far too soon, but you just can’t seem to keep your hands off your phone. The temptation is too much. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, they’re all calling your name. Before you know it, you’ve been in the library 9-5 and only written 500 words. This had been happening far too often as of late, so I looked for ways to put an end to it.
Image from Market Watch
That was when I came across Flora. It is essentially an app that makes you stay away from your phone. The idea is that you set a timer on the app for how long you need to focus, the app then plants a virtual seed that will grow while you are focusing. But if you use your phone or exit the app your plant will die. The more your overall focus time goes up, different seeds become unlocked and you can move to different parts of the globe to grow every kind of plant you like.
Images writer’s own and from iTunes App Store
I didn’t realise what a great incentive this was until I actually started using it and growing my own virtual garden. Your focus time builds up and you can see the total time you’ve spent over weeks and months. Best of all, you can plant seeds with your friends and motivate each other to stay focused. If one of you goes on your phone, you will kill the tree for the other, and nobody wants to be that person. Another incentive is to compete with your friends to see who can grow the most plants and get the highest focus time.Image from iTunes App Store
One great feature is that you can plant real trees across the world, not just by using your phone. You can name a donation (£5 minimum) and if you kill the tree you have to pay, if not, you plant a real tree for free! So, you can basically place a bet on whether you’ll focus or not, but either way it’s a win-win.
Why not try it out and see if you can bring your productivity up a level, all whilst helping the environment?